L-3 MAPPS announced today that it has signed a contract with Slovenia’s Nuklearna elektrarna Krško (NEK) to upgrade the full scope simulator for the Krško Nuclear Power Plant. The simulator upgrade is part of NEK’s Safety Upgrade Program (SUP) to modernize the plant to prevent severe accidents and to mitigate consequences consistent with the nuclear industry’s response after the Fukushima accident. The simulator upgrade project will start immediately and is expected to be in service in the third quarter of 2017.
"It is a privilege to have another opportunity to work with NEK, an innovative company that has always challenged us to push technological boundaries," said Michael Chatlani, vice president of marketing & sales for L-3 MAPPS Power Systems and Simulation.
"The NEK and L-3 MAPPS teams have worked very well together since the Krško full scope simulator was declared ready for training in 2000," said Božidar Krajnc, plant engineering director for NEK. "We look forward to implementing this significant simulator upgrade project with L-3 MAPPS, which is an important part of our safety upgrade program."
The current UNIX operating system-based simulator will be replaced with a virtualized Windows-based platform running L-3’s state-of-the-art Orchid® simulation environment. The virtual machine solution is designed to simplify simulator maintenance and switchover between the main and backup simulations.
The nuclear island and conventional island models will be migrated into Orchid. In addition to various plant model upgrades to reflect plant changes from the SUP, the Electric Power Research Institute’s Modular Accident Analysis Program (MAAP4) will be upgraded to MAAP5*, including the addition of the spent fuel pit model. MAAP is connected to the plant simulation to model postulated severe accidents.
The simulator’s legacy Datapath SC input/output (I/O) system will be replaced with a new compact I/O system driven by L-3’s Orchid Input Output software. The compact I/O solution will also be used to drive a new simulated emergency control room, which is replacing remote shutdown panels spread throughout the plant.
Analog cameras and microphones connected to a legacy audio/video (A/V) system will be replaced with digital equivalents that are driven by Orchid Multimedia Manager, which is fully synchronized with the simulator’s instructor station, Orchid Instructor Station. The A/V system is used to monitor and record operators during training and to debrief them following training sessions. The upgraded simulator will additionally feature Orchid Sound System to generate control room sounds, including earthquakes.
Nuklearna elektrarna Krško operates the only nuclear power plant in Slovenia. The Krško Nuclear Power Plant, located in Vrbina in the Municipality of Krško, is equipped with a Westinghouse two-loop pressurized water reactor and has a net electrical output of 696 MWe. It is connected to the 400 kV grid, supplying power to consumer centers in Slovenia and Croatia. The plant went into commercial operation on January 1, 1983 and supplies approximately 40 percent of the total electricity produced in Slovenia. Its simulator, put into service on March 31, 2000, is primarily used to train and license main control room operators in the safe and efficient operation of the plant.